Courses and workshops


The Research Focus ‘Symbiosis’ coordinates an advanced level curriculum on microbial symbiosis, including lectures, seminars, and practical courses:



See the course directory of the University of Vienna for further information.


Symbiosis research is inherently interdisciplinary and requires a broad range of knowledge in related research fields. At the same time, work in the field of microbial symbiosis has been strongly method-driven; adopting novel methods and techniques from related fields has been instrumental in advancing our knowledge of intricate interactions in symbiotic relationships. To account for this, the PhD program includes four workshops aiming at providing a broader perspective beyond individual PhD research projects and offering introduction to cutting-edge techniques. Each workshop consisting of theoretical as well as practical/experimental parts will be organized by a team of faculty members and may also include external lecturers.






Workshop 1: Bioinformatics and phylogenetic analysis in microbiology

This workshop aims at introducing students to basic concepts in computational biology with a specific focus on the analysis of (meta-) genome and transcriptome sequence data, and methods for phylogenetic sequence analysis. The workshop also includes a brief introduction to the scripting language Python to prepare students for using and combining available software packages.

Workshop 2: Imaging microbial symbioses

This workshop introduces all students to cutting edge imaging techniques, ranging from fluorescence in situ hybridization and epifluorescence microscopy, to super-resolution microscopy and chemical imaging using Raman microspectroscopy and secondary ion mass spectrometry (Nano-SIMS). In addition, modern electron microscopy techniques will be covered.

Workshop 3: Metabolomics

This workshop aims at providing an overview over basic concepts, approaches and current methods in metabolomics with a special focus on the power and limitations of mass spectrometry-based metabolomics and metabolic fingerprinting applied in microbiology and microbial ecology. The workshop also includes a brief introduction to data analysis tools and metabolomics bioinformatics.

Workshop 4: Ecology of microbial symbioses

This field workshop consists of seminars, discussions and lab work, where small teams of students and PIs run projects together on the ecology of microbial symbioses in marine and soil environments. This provides an intimate and informal setting for networking between students, faculty, and international experts.